31 Aug 2009

The Kurfuerstendamm, the great boulevard in the west of town. I do not go there very often, but if I do, I find it a very pleasant atmosphere. The light coming through the sycamore trees, the elegance of it all...... today was another lovely summers day, but somehow I thought that I detected a hint of very early autumn in a slight change of colours.

29 Aug 2009

Very early morning at the Spree, Museumsinsel. How I love this place, especially at this time of day, when its still, quiet, even the pleasure boats are still sleeping... only the morning light dances around, makes shadows, reflections on the water..... this town is still asleep, dreaming like a child, soon this place will be filled with busses and hundreds of digital cameras.....tourist guides and bicycles... then this place will be awake, then this town is like a grown up.

28 Aug 2009

As I stayed all day in my studio to work on the portrait of Harry Rowohlt I used some material from a recent walk with my friend Edgar Herbst, the photographer, for todays painting. Funnily enough while painting I had the tune "The sun has got his hat on" from the musical Me and my Girl in my mind.

27 Aug 2009

Just one of those ordinary back streets off the Friedrichstrasse. Just one of those ordinary mornings. Just one of those many ordinary breaks a person takes to have a chat and a smoke, and then one beam of sunlight, and the scene starts to sing.... music for the eyes..... I think I will work on this scene as well on a larger canvas....

25 Aug 2009

My friend, the photographer Edgar Herbst was so kind to spare the time to be my model for this painting. In the shadows of the columns of the Berlin cathedral, he looks to me as if he would start any minute to dance a tango. The suit was provided by another friend of mine, Christoph Tophinke.

23 Aug 2009

I have been told lately that I paint trivial things. But what is triviality ? one could without doubt argue that a piece of cheese and some fruit on a table is a trivial scene, but with that one ray of sunlight coming trough my kitchen window I thought it rather to be a very exciting scene.

21 Aug 2009

You will find in Livi Mai´s shop only clear glassware. With one exception. For every season one colour is introduced. Mauve is here the colour of the season. It starts already with the arrangement of flowers, outside the shop.

20 Aug 2009

Actually I wanted to paint a workman today, whom I had watched this morning, a man sitting already on the ground, exhausted by the sun so it seemed ( see the sketch below ) but then I passed this afternoon Livi Mai´s shop in the Veteranenstrasse, and changed my mind. A wonderful shop, where you will find the most exquisite glassware.

19 Aug 2009

When I went for a walk along the Kastanienallee this morning, I saw an image of a painting of mine I did a few years ago. It was in fact the same place. The same orange plastic bench. Funny enough it was that very painting from years ago that was chosen for the daily online countdown of the 24h Berlin Film..... I only realised this when I finished todays painting.... what a wonderful coincident.

16 Aug 2009

The waves that our boat made, well the boat of my host really.... thank you for all your comments and congratulations for the 1000th daily painting, I feel like we had a world wide celebration, on second thoughts, we had ! thank you again !

15 Aug 2009

Thank you: my brushes, my oils, my materials and thanks to all the people who were and will be in my paintings, and most of all: Thank you my dear collectors and friends. 1000 - enjoy.

I started the day very early. Its not every day that you paint the 1000th daily painting, and although I told myself all the time it is just another day, another painting... well that did not really help. I was as nervous as an actor who has forgotten all his lines.

13 Aug 2009

One of the many beautiful houses we passed. The wooden poles in the water are the marks by fishermen for their nets. The whole scenery could have been from a different century. Maybe that was the great appeal to me ?

12 Aug 2009

Quite amazing what speed this motorboat was up to. And quite wonderful what joy of life and rush of adrenalin it provoked by skipping the waves. Surprisingly very similar to the feeling I have when I paint.

9 Aug 2009

A smaller sailing boat. In a different age it must have been the privilege for kings. What a pleasure to watch it, what a majestic appearance, its movement, the reflection of the light on the sail and on the water ...

7 Aug 2009

The houses at the lake side are hardly visible. Only here and there are some boats tagged away discreetly on wooden boat walks. It is quiet out here, nature seems to be at peace. The embankment has a soft edge, the water is taken over by water lilies, the water lilies by reed, the reed by trees, and somewhere behind those trees must be the land again.

6 Aug 2009

When I got the invitation to talk about some business during a boat cruise on the Wannsee, I of course did not know what to expect regarding the kind of boat. It could have been a rowing boat after all, which would have been perfectly alright as long as no-one expected me to do the rowing of course. But when my kind host lifted the cover to unveil this Italian motor boat made of mahogany wood, with white leather seats, it simply took my breath away ....

5 Aug 2009

Three men in a boat - you may wonder who the third person is, well its me, the painter. You may as well wonder on which part of the Museumsinsel this is, well it isn´t. It is actually, surprise surprise not in Berlin for a change. Not far away though... I will tell you the whole story in the next days. I am back in my studio in Berlin, but I still have the images of water lilies, sailing boats, small villas on the lake in my mind, the sirens of the police cars racing down the Torstrasse will be slightly muffled by the memory of the sound of an Italian motorboat breaking the waves of the Wannsee.

4 Aug 2009

Anne, a journalist, was my model for this painting. The dress is a dark blue silk dress by Yves Saint Laurent, a wonderful creation in itself. I actually never thought that it would make such a difference, but it does. The cut, the material, the way it fell when Anne was walking in it, was just perfect for her and enhancing her classic style and beauty.

3 Aug 2009

Although I did not manage to get a likeliness of my friend Edgar Herbst in this painting of him sitting in the Cafe Einstein in Friedrichstrasse, one thing I did get was this special glint in his eyes. Something I noticed when he came back from India. Something is different in his eyes since then.

2 Aug 2009

Dishes in a corner cabinet at the Cafe Einstein. The other day when I met there with my very good friend the photographer Edgar Herbst, we were actually gracefully invited by the owner. Thank you again for a very special afternoon Mr. Schnappinger !

1 Aug 2009

What do you do if you are woken up at 6:30 in the morning on a Saturday by the noise of your upstairs neighbours, who run around their flat laughing hysterically and throwing themselves on the floor, letting the walls and ceilings vibrate like a large drum... ? Two choices, go upstairs, break down their front door, and throw them out of the window without necessarily opening the very same, or just go out, and enjoy the very special morning light. Needless to say that I opted for the second alternative, watching this young man in conversation with a lamp post at the Rosenthaler Platz ...

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